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Since Oct. 7, tourist visits have dwindled, forcing shop owners to find creative ways to continue business.
BEIT SAHOUR, West Bank — When COVID-19 was raging and both Israel and the West Bank were closed to tourists, Adi Bannourah wondered whether his two small olivewood factory/workshops would survive. Although the situation was grim, tourists eventually returned, and they were eager to buy Bannourah’s hand-carved Jesus and Mary figures and Nativity scenes.
That 2022-2023 uptick in pilgrimages breathed new life into local Christian businesses and the Holy Land’s struggling Christian communities, whose numbers have dwindled dramatically in recent years. Today, Christians make up just over 2% of the Israeli population — and even less in the Muslim-dominated West Bank.
That hope turned to despair on Oct. 7, the day Hamas infiltrated Israel and perpetrated a massacre, sparking a war spanning more than nine months. Although Israel has opened its borders and is permitting tourists to travel to the West Bank, “people are afraid to visit,” an unemployed Bethlehem-based tour guide who gave his name as Marwan said outside the Church of the Nativity.
From January through May 2023, nearly 2 million tourists visited Israel, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Just 400,000 visited during the same period in 2024, and most were either visiting family in Israel or had come to volunteer.
Continued below.
www.ncregister.com
BEIT SAHOUR, West Bank — When COVID-19 was raging and both Israel and the West Bank were closed to tourists, Adi Bannourah wondered whether his two small olivewood factory/workshops would survive. Although the situation was grim, tourists eventually returned, and they were eager to buy Bannourah’s hand-carved Jesus and Mary figures and Nativity scenes.
That 2022-2023 uptick in pilgrimages breathed new life into local Christian businesses and the Holy Land’s struggling Christian communities, whose numbers have dwindled dramatically in recent years. Today, Christians make up just over 2% of the Israeli population — and even less in the Muslim-dominated West Bank.
That hope turned to despair on Oct. 7, the day Hamas infiltrated Israel and perpetrated a massacre, sparking a war spanning more than nine months. Although Israel has opened its borders and is permitting tourists to travel to the West Bank, “people are afraid to visit,” an unemployed Bethlehem-based tour guide who gave his name as Marwan said outside the Church of the Nativity.
From January through May 2023, nearly 2 million tourists visited Israel, according to the Ministry of Tourism. Just 400,000 visited during the same period in 2024, and most were either visiting family in Israel or had come to volunteer.
Continued below.
‘We Cannot Do This Alone’: Christian Artists in the Holy Land Rely on Internet Sales to Survive Amid War
Since Oct. 7, tourist visits have dwindled, forcing shop owners to find creative ways to continue business.
